***
Gage had kissed her before but not like this. In his lips there was something different, a new kind of sensual promise that stole her breathe and made her quiver under the weight of his grip. Kate was left clinging to him when he drew away moments later, his eyes hooded, enigmatic. She sighed, no longer caring about the other guests milling around, she wanted to feed the hunger, public scrutiny be damned. She gazed up into Gage’s darkened eyes and felt she could do anything he asked if only he would kiss her that way again…
“Gage…” Kate purred dreamily, only to be cut off by a voice that sounded like cold, polished steel, squeaking from behind her.
“Now isn’t this a nice surprise,” said the voice of a woman who now appeared right before them. Kate didn’t need to wonder who she was. Chloe Valiant, a wildly beautiful pop vocalist who had just tops the charts earlier that summer. She was edgy, sensual and talented with the world at her feet.
It had also been rumored that she had dated Gage for a couple of months and their hinted romance had been all over the tabloids earlier that year. Kate felt the sudden need to withdraw in surrender as her eyes caught and held with the slim, tall and shapely brunette dressed in high fashion leggings and not much else – a strip of a tank that was hanging on her enviously slender shoulders with her dark brown hair falling luxuriantly to her waist.
It was times like this that Kate was reminded that full-figured might be considered sexy in her part of the country, but not everyone in the world appreciated a girl with curves, especially not the stick-thin pop star that stood just a few feet away, her carefully painted fingertips planted firmly in a sharp hip-hug stance, her head cocked to the side and her lips curled in disdain.
Kate could feel the younger woman’s disgust, venom ready to spew out of her thin-lipped mouth, as her eyes hung on the arm that Gage had wrapped tightly around Kate’s waist.
“What do you want Chloe?” Gage replied, annoyance bursting across his face.
Kate’s ears filled with Chloe’s kittenish giggle and she couldn’t help but stare at the long column of her delicate throat and how everything about the woman was so sexy and feminine. Barely twenty-three, she had already been linked to many of the most handsome and successful stars in the business.
And yet, from what Kate had heard, Gage had been the one to call it quits. Kate couldn’t believe any man – even a guy like Gage, could ever say no to a woman like Chloe. But as Gage’s hand roamed up Kate’s back to clasp her neck in a deliberate gesture, she had a feeling he was trying to send a very strong message. Her suspicion was confirmed when she saw Chloe’s green eyes darken as Gage’s fingers rested possessively at the inner base of Kate’s shoulder.
“Now this isn’t your usual type.” Chloe murmured, eyes flickering over Kate disdainfully. “I mean, I know Chase’s parties can get rather wild, but I’m sure you don’t need a handler to keep you in line.”
Kate bristled; the barb wasn’t lost on her. She felt a flame of anger rise to the surface of her chest, and she was about to respond when Gage wrapped his arm around her neck, pulling her into a tight embrace.
“Handler? Oh, Kate’s not a handler, Chloe, and this sexy little thing is definitely not here to keep me in line.” He replied gingerly, turning to nuzzle Kate’s cheek with an affectionate grin. “If anything, she’s the naughty one, about to have her wicked way with me.”
Kate squirmed at the touch of Gage’s intimate lips, while she held her gaze pinned to the obviously smarting Chloe who smiled thinly. “Oh, I don’t think there’s anything ‘little’ about your pretty companion, Gage. Never knew you liked full figures. I guess that’s why we never worked out, huh?”
Gage shrugged, digging his fingers slightly into Kate’s flesh as if he knew she was about to lunge for Chloe’s beautifully snide face and he had to hold her back.
“Among many other reasons. Now if you’ll excuse us; Kate and I have been waiting all night to be able to get out of here together, so we gotta run. Take care, Chloe.”
Chloe opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by a herd of guests who had finally noticed her. Instantly, she was swept away in the crowd while Gage slipped out of the party quietly, with Kate in tow.
She was still bristling when they slid into the back seat of the limo that was waiting to bring them to the finest hotel in the city. Kate’s eyes swung to his in anger but he had a wicked glint in his eyes that told her she should just leave it alone.
“The guys can meet us at the tour bus tomorrow morning. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind us leaving them at Chase’s since things will be heating up soon enough over there. As for you and me…”
He placed his hand on her arm, but Kate was fuming as she shrunk away to the other end of the seat.
“Is there any part of this tour where you don’t get to use me? First you think you have the sole right to my body – and now you just kissed me in order to get Chloe off your back? You know, Gage, I may not be part of this world of glitz and glamour, where you’re treated like a spoiled child, but I deserve at least a shred of respect.”
“Kate…” Gage whispered, sighing as he raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. “I wanted to say more to her for the way she spoke about you, but then I thought…of course she is going to be angry when she sees you.”
“Oh, seriously!” Seething with anger she had no patience for his ego. “You know Gage, there’s more to life than being famous or having thousands of women believe that they’re in love with you just because you....”
“That’s not what I meant, Kate.” His voice was strangely flat, frustration dripping from every word. “I meant that she has the right to be angry and jealous when she sees someone like you because… you are everything that she isn’t.”
“You hardly know me anymore. I’m nothing like I used to be.” Her words cut sharp in a brutal hiss, and she wished she hadn’t let them slip from her lips like a paperweight smothering the passion and truth between them.
“Don’t tell me that I don’t know you,” he fired back between gritted teeth.
Kate felt a flutter deep within her belly, but she forced herself to turn away, even as her heart warmed. Gage had stood up for her, in his own way and she had to admit, it certainly felt good and she was wrong. He did know her…probably better than she knew herself.
Gage was silent for a moment, and she turned to look at him but saw only the searing glint of speculation and confusion in his eyes. “And what is it that you think I don’t know about you, Kate? Tell me.”
Kate felt tears welling in her eyes and she bite down on her trembling bottom lip in an effort to stop them from falling down her cheeks. She was too strong of a woman to be crying in front of a man this way. His pity was something she neither needed nor wanted. But the heat in his eyes, though tender, held no trace of pity. Instead they brimmed with desire and intrigue, as if he knew she had a secret and wanted nothing but for her to confess.
In truth, Kate did have a secret and it was one that she had been harboring for many years. She had never gotten over Gage. How could any woman get over such an incredibly passionate man? Even the many years apart hadn’t been able to dilute the fiery intensity between them, and now that he was back in her life she wanted nothing more than to give herself to him, but she was afraid.
Afraid didn’t even come close to describing it, she thought as another spike of terror rushed through her. Terrified, absolutely and completely terrified.
Somehow, the space between them disappeared and before she could say a word he was pulling her onto his lap, her trembling body brought flush against his heated chest. She thought about refusing him, but then his mouth slanted over hers and she felt her body ignite with intense passion that swirled around her belly, melding a string of thoughts together, her mind locked on a channel that she couldn’t switch off.
Resist him and protect your heart…
Just let go and enjoy every moment…
Knowing how easy it was for him to give her the most pleasurable high imaginable, she wanted nothing more than to let him have his way with her, but she fought back the flame of desire as much as she could.
“Don’t fight it,” he murmured, lips trailing over hers. “Don’t fight what you’re feeling.”
He plucked at her ravenously, and then used the tip of his tongue to trace the seam of her clamped lips till she opened up like a flower to his invasion. He crushed her against him and in the same vein, ground his mouth into hers. His tongue sought and swirled around hers in a honeyed mating dance that left her breathless.
“Sometimes I wish…” Gage growled, peeling his lips away from hers, only to break off and nestle his face in the arched curve of her neck. “If I could, I’d go back in time…give this all up for that one time when you and I…”
He broke off again and Kate heard his breathing go ragged as he sighed with a torturous groan, frustration morphing into anger. Kate was glad that they were locked in their own world where everything passed by beyond the tinted glass of the limo. Even the chauffeur was unmindful of them, focused on his driving on the other end of the sealed partition, something the shy Kate was thankful for. Especially when she suddenly felt the weight of Gage’s hand sliding up her bare thigh.
His words had made her shiver as she wondered if, like her, he missed that moment in time when they’d been together freely, without a care in the world and without the pressures that now bore down on them.
But why should he want to go back to that time? He was a struggling musician back then and now he was wealthy, famous and loved by thousands of fans around the world. Everyone knew his name whereas before, no one did. She couldn’t stop her thoughts from turning bitter as she thought about how Gage was now way out of her league and it hurt to think that if they had just met for the first time, he’d probably never give her a second glance.
So why wasn’t she pushing his hand away, even as it inched dangerously closer to her p**sy, invading the perimeter of her comfort zone? She’d been aching for him to take her all night and even her anger couldn’t hold its place against the vulnerability of her senses whenever Gage was in control. Kate wished she could fight him…with all her soul she wished it. The last thing she wanted was to be his plaything, to be tossed aside once the tour was over and he could get back to his extravagant lifestyle where women were as plenty as the fish in the sea. Her heart couldn’t stand the thought of falling for him now, only to lose him once again.
But he was kissing her with fierce urgency, as daring a passion as a lover who knew all of her weaknesses and had every intention of exploiting them. His hand squeezed her thigh before traveling beneath the hem of her skirt to the burning apex between her thighs. Through the sheer lace panel of her panties, his fingers scalded her as they moved skillfully and deliberately across the thin material, squeezing and cupping her wetness in his hand.
Kate felt the heat building in her core, turning into a blazing fire and she shivered involuntarily at his touch, her p**sy tingling in response to the insistent pressing of his fingertips massaging her most private places. Every nerve ending sparked to life and she could almost feel her body sizzle with electricity, ready to disintegrate into ash if he continued with his sweet, yet aggressive onslaught.